Lausanne, Switzerland. 2008.12.16 - Last night in Lausanne, Switzerland, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presented their Golden Rings awards to recognise the outstanding broadcasting achievements for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
 

 
Amongst 38 sports broadcast during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, in the category of Best Coverage by the Host Broadcaster, sailing was awarded the Gold medal. The most challenging of all the Olympic sports to televise live, the sailing regatta was captured by cameras both on the water and in the air.
 
Contributing to the aerial coverage of the yacht races, was specialist helicopter cameraman, Laurie K. Gilbert.
 
Gilbert was invited to Qingdao by the host broadcasters, for his expertise as an offshore marine cinematographer. Gilbert and two European cameramen generated all the dynamic aerial imagery for the global, nightly television package.
 
Operating in two Chinese military helicopters, with Chinese Air Force flight crew, the three cameramen shot with Cineflex and Scorpio gyro stabilised, High Definition camera systems which were mounted on the aircraft' exterior.
 
Gilbert is no stranger to Olympic Sailing - in 1988 he led a team of five Australian specialist sailing cameramen to Pusan, Korea, where they were responsible for shooting the inaugural global television coverage of an Olympic Sailing Regatta.
 
For more than 20 years, Gilbert has filmed prestigious sailing regattas around the globe, including the America's Cup, Transpac, Kenwood Cup and Rolex Maxi series.
 
Digital Tsunami founder Andrew W Morse first worked with Gilbert when Morse was filming a television commercial of the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle, Australia. They have remained friends and filmmaking colleagues for over two decades. Digital Tsunami is currently developing a new web presence for Aerial Marine after delivering two previous sites for www.limage.tv.